(Transcript from World News Radio)
Some advocacy groups say it's inappropriate that a former Sri Lankan army officer has a senior management role at the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.
There are calls for the man to be stood down.
Thea Cowie reports.
Dinesh Perera was a company commander in the Sri Lankan Army.
In February last year, security company G4S appointed him to the position of Operations Manager at the Manus Island detention centre.
According to an online professional profile, Mr Perera was promoted to Acting Centre Manager in October.
It's estimated there are about 30 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka among the detainees on Manus Island.
Dr Sam Pari is a spokeswoman for one community group, the Australian Tamil Congress.
She says Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka would be uncomfortable having a former Sri Lankan army officer in a senior management position at the detention centre.
"When you have such a large population fleeing the Sri Lankan regime and their military, coming to Australia hoping that they will find safety and security here, to then be handed over to a former military personnel to look after them raises serious questions of not only how they were treated but what access this man may have to their personal details."
The Human Rights Law Centre and the Refugee Action Coalition are joining calls for the former Sri Lankan army officer to be stood down.
The Law Centre's Emily Howie says her concerns are about Mr Perera's past work history not any alleged wrongdoing on his behalf.
"We don't know of any allegations against Mr Perera and we don't wish to make comment about himself. We don't have background as to his past, that sort of thing. But we do know that anybody with that kind of experience or background is inappropriate to be in charge of the welfare of asylum seekers on Manus Island. It really highlights just how insensitive the Australian government has become to the real risk and vulnerabilities of the people that are in its care."
In a statement to SBS, G4S says Mr Perera is Operations Manager and is not in charge of the centre.
G4S says Mr Perera is an Australian citizen and is appropriately qualified for his role.
The Transfield Services company, which is in the process of taking over from G4S, won't comment on the recruitment of individuals.
But it has previously confirmed it will continue to use local security staff in accordance with the deal between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, T.S. Samarasinghe has told the ABC Mr Perera's military background is irrelevant.
"Sri Lankan military is highly professional, well trained, disciplined, brave. And bringing out just a name of a person saying 'ex-Sri Lankan military' is absolutely out of context. Bringing out such information is a biased way of trying to bring Sri Lanka into a picture with no relevance in this instance."
Mr Perera's role on Manus Island dates back to the Labor government.
Immigration Minister in the second Rudd Government, Tony Burke, says he didn't know about the appointment.
"I've become aware of that appointment with the stories overnight. That's the first I've become aware of it. So I'll be looking at the details as they unfold. As I understand it, and I've only seen what's been reported, it's not an appointment that's been made by government it's an appointment that was made by G4S."
Mr Burke won't comment on how appropriate that appointment was, but fellow Labor MP Kelvin Thomson has.
"It doesn't sound appropriate to me. I'm not in possession of all the information concerning this but I would have thought that that may be a concern to people who are at the detention centre and it would be better if you didn't have someone with a military background there."
Meanwhile the Australian Greens are calling for any staff suspected of involvement in attacks on asylum seekers to be stood down.
Greens Immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson Young says people suspected of wrongdoing should be removed from the facility until an investigation into their behaviour is complete.
Some detention centre staff and asylum seekers are alleging G4S staff allowed locals armed with weapons into the facility.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has not responded to an SBS request for comment.
